Yeah - I agree with auchmedden. The green is absolutely gorgeous but the tone is off for your cabs. So's the gold. Are you bringing a cab sample with you to the granite yard? That really is the best way to see the match potential. Bringing a sample home is important, too because light values change. Yanno what's funny? Those cabs are really close to the color I wanted (but Hubby vetoed). When we did ours, we picked the granite before the stain color as we figured stain is much more changeable than a granite slab. Our granite: From Kitchen (it's Arcobaleno and is probably a quartzite and is hard to find)

Hi Pedimom, Wondering if you have had any luck with the grantie seam problem? I am shopping for granite and started to think about your seams. They have been just terrible to you. I am so sorry you are going through this. While learning all I can about granite I found some links on my search. Maybe this will help you on your discussions with the granite people. Thinking of you and hoping the installers fix this for you. Good luck. Boxerpups ............ http://boards.hgtvpro.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5081053852/m/7061072093 Better place yet is in middle of sink. short seam on each side of sink easy to hide. Other then that pick the end which is not seen as easy from outside the room. The lower the angle you look the easier it can be seen. so when your farther away the seam will stand out more because of the reflective nature of the stone. But any good counter company worth their salt should be able to seam this with little effort and is should hide quite well. Black is a fairly easy color to seam. Its the lighter colors that oftemtimes is harder. ............ http://www.stoneadvice.com/forum/search.php?fid[]=1 ..... http://tomcordova.com/24/seams-in-granite/ Granite countertop seams should be smooth to the touch and no more than 1/16ÂÂ wide. There is no written rule about this but this is the quality standard in the industry. The joint should be filled flush with epoxy in a color that best matches the general granite color. If you are not happy with the color, ask the installer to redo it. This is not difficult. Sometimes the joint can be made smoother with the epoxy as well. If the joint is still rough, then you will need to have the seams professionally ground down and re-polished. This is not easy to do correctly and even impossible with some homogenous colors. Best wishes, Tom Cordova .................... Q. How can I get the smallest seam possible where two slab countertop panels meet? A. Well obviously a good fit and straight cuts are key. But here are a few other tricks of the trade. Get some large soft rubber suction cups of five or six inch diameter and some turnbuckles eight or ten inches long. Attach one cup to each end of the turnbuckle. After you butter the edge of the seam with the epoxy that you have tinted the color of the granite stone you are using set them in place and squeeze them together gently. Then take your assembly of turnbuckles and suction cups and straddle the seam placing one suction cup on each side. Then spin the turnbuckle to gently pull the two panels together. You don't want to apply too much force here or you will break the suction of the rubber cups to the granite. Wedges are also useful in achieving a tight seam by forcing the panel in the direction of the seam.

Thank you for all the help. I have read over the older threads and it has given me a lot to think about. These were helpful and thank you for posting them. I really liked the trash bags on the counter idea to see how it would look. Can anyone explain to me the difference in honed or leather Absolute Black? The leather Absolute Black would give it the rustic look we want. rgps can you tell me which quartz that is. Soapstone would be my number one choice but it really is not an option. Soapstone looking quartz could look very nice. RightDi I don't know the name of the granite slab, but I can find out tomorrow to let you know. Thank you for your help.

The big decisions ARE scary! I've been reading these forums since we started (closed on the house sept 9th) but the other decisions didn't seem so bad...like paint color, you know? In 3 months we painted the outside, landscaped, refinished original hardwoods, painted every wall, ceiling, piece of trim, gutted the bathroom (finished!) and put carpet in bedrooms. The only thing we paid to have done was the carpet. DH really is a DH...he was laid off in Sept so the house is his full time job. we're doing everything we can by ourselves, and i'm so proud that theres so much i can do myself. I did the bathroom floor by myself (above pics). this kitchen...hmm...shooting for before christmas, traveling out of state. at least the granite will be shipped in a week, even the laminate would have taken longer. a lot of +'s going this route; plus i know we wont be here forever (its our starter house) so the granite tile should be good for resale. its a starter house neighborhood, not a lot of granite around here. Its down to Juparano and Tropic Brown. The only difference between the two (besides color) is that juperano only comes in an ogee edge, and tropic brown only comes in beveled or bullnose.